


i’ll take care of you

by undercoversmoak



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Felicity is a pregnant badass, Minor Angst, Olicity Baby Feels, Overprotective Oliver, Post 7x18, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 09:52:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18496510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undercoversmoak/pseuds/undercoversmoak
Summary: Oliver finds out his pregnant wife braved not one, but two death-defying explosions while working with the canaries. He doesn’t handle it super well.





	i’ll take care of you

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! So this popped into my brain after I watched the 7x18 Olicity ending scene about 14 times. Our babies deserve more couch cuddles. (Ps I left the ending up to interpretation, since we don’t know how much Oliver knows about his deal with the monitor yet.) 
> 
> Enjoy! Please comment and leave a kudos if you like it :)

It wasn’t until later that night — after one very satisfying foot massage that led to an almost-equally-as-satisfying make out session on the couch — that Felicity finally tells him about what happened with Laurel. 

He listens to her as he undresses and moves around the bed, unfolding the covers so she can shuffle under them.

He reacts how she expects him to - he rolls his eyes when she recounts Dinah’s words to her at the precinct and raises of his eyebrows in surprise when she tells him about Laurel’s decision to go back to Earth-2.

He seems proud of her story, and she can’t lie - she’s a little proud of herself, too. She  _ was  _ really badass. Not bad, especially since she’s carrying around a tiny human in her uterus these days.

(And if she somehow neglects to mention the whole  _ almost being blown up - _ twice, if you want to get technical - thing… well… that’s purely coincidental. It’s not even important to the story, really. A minor detail. She practically forgot it happened.)

So when she tops off the story about how she almost took a sip of champagne in front of Dinah before Laurel caught her faux pas - “pregnancy brain, my bad!” she hastily apologizes when Oliver looks unimpressed - they’re settled into bed together, his arms wound tightly around her back while she curls up on his bare chest, her not-so-secret favorite place to sleep. Don’t get her wrong, she’s definitely a spooner (or is the term  _ spoonie?  _ Since she is the one being spooned?) but there is something unequivocally comforting about resting her head on Oliver’s solid chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart under her ear. 

She could stay there forever.

“Well, I’m impressed,” Oliver says through a yawn, reminding her what a long day it’s been for him too. “Not only that you were able to get through to Laurel before she went down a path she can’t come back from, but that you did all this without anyone being hurt or putting yourself in too much danger. I’ll admit, I was… nervous when you said you were going into the field, with the baby and all but I should’ve had more faith in you. You always make the right call.”

He presses a lingering kiss to her temple, rubbing soothing lines down her back. It’s almost enough to lull her to sleep, but the guilt of knowing that statement isn’t, well...  _ 100% accurate  _ bubbles in her stomach and forces its way out her mouth in the form of a nervous, jittery laugh.

The noise startles Oliver, his fingers twitching at her side.

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Hon?”

She rubs his chest as she tries to buy time to think of any way to get out of the conversation they are currently headed towards - what are the chances she could pretend to be asleep and he would buy she was sleep-talking?

Probably pretty low, since she doesn’t sleep-talk. Damn her fantastic R.E.M cycle.

“Like I said, nothing. Everybody is safe so it’s not like it really matters so…”

“ _ Felicity.” _

“I mean… there may have been like… a slight explosion when we were trying to find Laurel and…” She trails off, waiting for his interruption but of course he can tell there’s more to the story. “And then maybe a slight… building exploding right there at the end.”

“Felicity,” he sighs, and she can practically  _ hear  _ the 10 grey hairs this story has induced already. “How close were you to the first explosion?”

She purses her lips, hoping it’s one of the times he finds that really charming.

“Well… kinda close, at first. We think Laurel was trying to kill us.”

Oliver groans, running his hand down his face.

“But! We shielded ourselves with a large, very sturdy, very safe table and were totally fine. Barely any danger.”

“And the building exploding?”

“Yes, okay, I will give you that. That doesn’t look great.” She mirrors him as he sits up on the bed. “But I had the canaries with me and we all made it out right before the warehouse exploded. No harm done.”

“You had to  _ run  _ from an exploding  _ building,  _ Felicity?! Are you kidding?” Panic and exasperation are written all over his face, two emotions she desperately wants to relieve.

“Well, I definitely did more of a light jog - you know me, I don’t run - but—“

“Felicity.” He cuts off her attempt to alleviate the tension. “Hon, I don’t need to tell you how incredibly dangerous and reckless that was.”

“I know, I know, bad call — but I am  _ fine…” _ She emphasizes - because she  _ is  _ and that’s all that matters. Sure, she has a little bit of emotional whiplash and her feet are still sore from wearing those uncomfortable boots all day but she is here and  _ safe _ . With the lives they lead, it’s important to take the wins as they come.

“No, Felicity, not just bad call. Stupid call. A  _ reckless  _ call.”

“Hey! That’s not fair and you know it.”

Anger ignites in her because it’s just a  _ tad  _ hypocritical of him to be so judgey when he puts himself in these kind of situations all the damn time.

“I can take care of myself, Oliver,” she defends. “You know that. I know how to keep myself safe.”

“I know that you do, Felicity, but it’s not just you anymore. You have our baby to think about.”

“Precious cargo, I know,” she mutters. “I don’t need to be told that, Oliver. I’m being as careful as I can.”

“Are you?”

She pulls back, hurt coloring her face. “Of course I am. I can’t plan for every single factor when I’m in the field, Oliver. You of all people should know that.”

“I do know that. I’m not saying it’s your fault, Felicity-“

“Really?” she scoffs. “Because that’s sure as hell what it sounds like to me.”

He pauses, biting his bottom lip and closing his eyes. Felicity lovingly calls this his  _ rebooting  _ face because he reboots like a computer and tries to reconsider things. She thinks it’s cute - most of the time.

“I know you can take care of yourself, Felicity, and I know you can take care of our baby too. I just need you to understand where I’m coming from.”

“Look,” she sighs. “I’m sorry if the explosion thing freaked you out, I swear that if I had known things would get so dicey with Laurel I wouldn’t have gone. I never would intentionally put our baby in danger.”

“I know you wouldn’t. I trust you, Felicity, but I still don’t think you get it.”

“Get what?” she asks, maybe a little sharply. But she’s tired and irritated and somehow, hungry again, and she just really, really wants to sleep. Preferably curled around her husband like a spider monkey but, with the way the night is going that seems unlikely. So she’s getting no cuddles  _ and  _ no sleep tonight. Fantastic.

“Listen,” he begins. “I know you’re going to say that you’ll be more careful from now on, and you’ll mean it, but then something else is going to come up that requires you to be in the field and you’re gonna want to do it. You’re going to want to be right in the center of the fight, with us, and I accept that because that’s who you are. That’s who I fell in love with. You don’t ask permission and you don’t wait on the sidelines. I love that about you, baby.”

Something in her icy anger cracks - that nickname is her achilles heel, especially when it’s coming from Oliver’s gentle voice.  _ Rude. _

She brings her hand to his shoulder and gently rubs his neck. “Thank you.”

“But I cannot emphasize enough how much I need you to be safe.”

Her next sigh is laced with frustration — they’ve had different shades of this conversation more times than she can count and if he doesn’t understand by now that she’ll always try to keep herself safe but it’s  _ her choice  _ then he never will.

“I know that-“

“Please let me finish,” he says, grabbing her hand where it rests and lacing it together with his.

“Things are different now. You’re carrying our baby, and I know you already know that. But I need you to at least… try to understand something. For me.”

“Okay…”

“I love you.”

Her forehead scrunches. “I know that, Oliver…”

“No, Felicity, I don’t think you… get it. Every time you go into the field or have to do something dangerous, I’m a nervous wreck. I always have been. And I know you think that’s me overreacting or being overprotective and… that’s fair. But it’s how it’s always been for me, and I have as little chance of changing that as I do of changing your mind about going into the field.”

She smiles gratefully at that, squeezing his fingers.

“So I’ve accepted that. And, as time has gone on, I’ve realized that I can trust your ability to keep yourself safe as well as mine. I may not always like it,” he gives a short, humorless laugh, “but I can handle it.”

“And now you’re pregnant,” he smiles - a genuine, beatific smile that she can feel in her toes. It’s the smile he has whenever they talk about their baby. “And, as happy as I am, those nervous feelings have only increased tenfold.”

“Oliver, you know that I will do everything I can to protect our baby. Always.”

“I do know that. I trust you. It’s not about that… it’s…” he breaks off, frustrated with his inability to find the words. “This life with you, with our family, is something I didn’t even know was possible for me until a few years ago. Hell, I didn’t even know I wanted a life like this until you.” He smiles at her, a sweet but melancholy smile. “You know the first time I knew I wanted a family with you?”

She shakes her head. Her heart feels like it’s in her throat.

“It was at the hospital, after JJ was born. I walked in and you were looking down at him and it just… everything clicked. I wanted that future so badly it hurt. And at that point in my life, I didn’t know if I deserved to have that.” He sighs, shaking his head as if shaking out a bad memory. “But now we’re here. We’re a family and I’m so close to having everything I didn’t think was possible.”

She smiles shakily, blinking back tears. “Oliver…” The way this man can make her feel is overwhelming.

He takes a shaky breath. “But the closer I get to that, the more scared I get that I’ll lose it. That’s why I’ve been so… overbearing, I guess, since we found out you were pregnant. I want you and our baby to be healthy and happy, but most importantly, safe.”

“You do keep us safe, Oliver. You take such good care of us.”

He smiles at the compliment but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

”I could never live with myself if something happened and I didn’t take every precaution - every  _ single  _ opportunity to keep you both out of harms way.” He looks at her, almost sheepishly. “You and this baby are my whole world.”

She closes her eyes, soaking up his words and trying to keep her emotions in check. She already has pregnancy hormones to contend with, leave it to Oliver to smother her with sweet words so she’s a blubbering mess.

“ _God,_ Oliver,” she swipes under her eyes and she hopes her choked words are enough to convey how much she appreciates the sentiment and also how much she  _ cannot handle this  _ right now.

“I just need you to know how I feel whenever you’re in danger. Even if it’s by accident. Okay? I just… Do you understand?”

Deja vu hits her like a freight train - memories so far away they feel like another lifetime but also so close she can still feel his breath on her lips as he leaned in closer - and his voice is so eerily similar to that night in the mansion years ago, so soft and compelling, that all she can do is give him the same answer she did then.

“Yes.”

He smiles. “Good. Okay.”

She lightly chuckles through the glaze of tears in her eyes, reading him like a teleprompter. “I figure there is a reason you’re telling me all this, Oliver?”

“Hmm?”

Oh, so now  _ he’s  _ the one playing dumb. Okay.

“Me being in danger tonight isn’t what sparked a beautiful speech about how you love me. You’ve been thinking this for a while, haven’t you?”

“I…”

“Oliver,” she brings their joined hands to her lips, kissing them softly. “Come on. What is it?”

“I know you said you’d be extra careful and I trust you. I know you’ll do anything to keep our baby safe. But…”

“But…?”

He fidgets, rubbing his forefinger against her knuckles. He’s nervous.

“But there are so many things we can’t plan for. Especially in the field. And I would never force you or even  _ ask  _ you take a break from Team Arrow while you’re pregnant because I know that would never work. And I don’t have a death wish.”

She grins. “Well, duh.”

“But I’m going to ask you, please, to not do anything that puts you at a higher risk of getting hurt while you’re pregnant. And going out in the field, whether I’m there to protect you or not, puts you at a higher risk.”

His expression wavers, and the nerves that are evident in his eyes make her swallow her initial  _ mildly  _ offended response. She can kick ass in the field as much as she could before she was eating for two, as she proved several times tonight. But….

She considers him - her sweet, hesitant, overprotective husband who makes her eat vegetables at every meal but also buys a new carton of ice cream every other day because he can’t say no to her. 

This man. Ugh. She really needs to practice staying mad at him for longer than 10 seconds.

“So no more field work while I’m with child,” His eyes track her movements as she places her free hand on her barely-there bump. “That’s what you’re asking?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Her answer surprises both of them, actually. Oliver’s eyebrows raise to his hairline as he chokes out, “really?”

She laughs at little at his shock - “Am I really that stubborn?”

He gives her an impish look. “You really want me to answer that?”

She winks at him. “Hey, if it’s this important to you Oliver, I’ll agree to it. Not because I am not 100% confident in my capabilities to take care of myself and our unborn child - but because you’re right; there are threats we can’t plan for in the field and I don’t want to take any chances with our baby.”

Oliver exhales, relief practically seeping from his pores. How long has he been holding this in?

“Thank you,” he murmurs, leaning in to brush his lips softly against hers. She strokes his stubbly cheek, smoothing out any last remnant of worry.

“I want our family to be happy and healthy, which includes you. I don’t want you out in the field, distracted because you’re worried about me too. I want you 100% focused on coming home to us. Me and-“ she gestures to her stomach, “little Lucas or little Mia or little… _ whoever  _ need you. We need you safe.”

“Always.”

His face glows with love and contentment and she’s pretty certain she looks the same.

Oh god… they are truly the sappiest couple on the planet, aren’t they? Their kids are going to hate them.

“Well,” she amends. “I can’t promise things will go perfectly - if it’s between me going in the field and hundreds of people dying, I’m going to chose the field, no question. But I’ll be as careful as I can be.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he grins, leaning in. Their lips meet in one of her favorite kind of kisses - it’s chaste, but still sweet and tender and lasts longer than their hello/goodbye pecks. It’s the kind of kiss Oliver always gives her after a mission and the kind she gives him when he makes her favorite dessert.

They break apart and slide back down the bed, Felicity already reclaiming her rightful spot on his chest. So, she  _ is  _ getting cuddles tonight. Score.

“Same goes for you too, you know,” she mumbles through a yawn.

“Hmm?”

“Same goes for you. I love you and I worry about you all the time. Would never survive losing you, Oliver.”

She drifts off then, dreams overtaking her. She wishes she would have stayed awake though.

Because if she had stayed awake a few more moments, she would have felt Oliver gently  press his lips to her hair and his trembling breath as he whispered into the silence.

“Oh Felicity… I hope that you can.”

  
  



End file.
